We had two Shelties and a cat. The two Shelties got old and sick and are gone now but the cat is still with us.
We did not crate the dogs or cat and the cat sleeps where she wants while we are underway.
When we were sightseeing we left them in the motor home with the AC running if necessary.
The litter box is a covered type with a door. While underway it is in the bedroom and while stopped for a while it is in the hall in front of the closet. A lot of folks keep them in the shower.
We saw one in the basement (storage areas under the floor accessible from outside ). The guy had cut a cat door in the dinette booth front under the table so the cat could get into it.
We found that WIFI wasn’t adequate for our needs and have a Verizon 3G broadband aircard (cellular modem). It is plugged into a wireless router and our two laptops are networked. We have broadband coverage just about everywhere we go.
We also have a Wilson trucker cellphone antenna with a Wilson SignalBoost amplifier .
it works with the modem and cellphone.
Some folks use a Hughes satellite service with a dish but it isn’t as popular as it was before 3G service became so widely available.
If you absolutely require internet access wherever you are in the US that is probably the best option though.
We have been volunteer camp host at some state parks but that is unpaid so is not considered work camping which is a paid position. In both situations a full hookup site is usually part of the deal.
Yes being a camp host was more demanding than we want so we don’t do that anymore.
We just open the dump valve and it goes down the sewer hose into the RV park system.
We leave the gray water (sink and shower) tank valve open until a couple of days before we plan to dump the black water so the gray water can be dumped after the black and rinse the hose.
We do have a legal domicile - Sioux Falls SD. We use a mail forwarding service. There are no state income taxes in SD. We file our federal taxes via mail.
We just went back to SD in May to renew our drivers licenses. That requires more ID now because of the Homeland Security Act. It will be easier next time though and we expect to be able to do it by mail in the future.
SD does not require a special license for motor homes. Some states (CA, TX, MD, are ones I know of -there may be others) do require a special non commercial license if the motor home weighs more than 26,000 pounds.
We have “full timers” insurance on the motor home through GMAC. The Honda toad is also insured with them. As I recall the annual cost is about $1200 total for both.
We have a satellite dish on the roof that is raised up when we park. We use Direct TV.
Last fall we upgraded the old 24 inch TV to a 32 inch LCD TV and we just got high definition service, so the dish will have to be upgraded to HD. The old dish is not automatic. I have to set the direction and elevation when we stop - about a two minute job.
In Jan in AZ we will have an automatic 5 LNB high definition dish installed. It will deploy and find the 5 satellites automatically when turned on.
Crime is not a problem in RV parks. There are a lot of people around all the time and they know what is going on. If they can afford to own a motor home or fifth wheel they usually aren’t the guys that steal stuff.
I am sure there are campgrounds and trailer parks that have tenants as you describe but we don’t see them in the places we stay.
Full timers rarely stay in trailer parks where you have mobile homes. We stay in RV parks where the tenants are snowbirds or full timers.
The amenities are dependent on what you are willing to pay. They include swimming pools, clubhouses, craft classes, language classes, and organized activities of all sorts.
Most RV parks allow pets but may limit the breed and or weight. They often provide a pet run area.
Unless in a fenced run, in all cases pets have to be on a leash and are not to be chained outside unattended.
We have the mail forwarding service send our mail to the RV park or to general delivery.
My home address is:
MY Name
3700 South Westport Avenue #1234
Sioux Falls, SD 57106.
That is the street address of the mail forwarding service.
The #1234 is actually a PMB number - a Personal Mail Box" number. The post office will allow either a # sign or the letters “PMB” to be used.
We do have belongings stored in a 10 X 30 storage unit.
When we get to old, too sick or too bored to continue the life style we will probably buy a small house someplace with a decent climate where the medical services are good and accessible.
Right now the Grand Junction CO area is looking like a potential spot when the time comes.
I have seen a lot of toy haulers - fifth wheels and a few motor homes. - A few on lifts on the back of big diesel pushers.
Quite a few in trailers that also carry a small car.
That requires a diesel pusher to have the GCWR needed.
That seems to be the best approach but is costly.
Five months was quite enough for both of us. We enjoyed it, but didn’t like being completely rootless. Full-timers that we talked to seemed a bit lost and harried, and if I’m going to spend months in a huge RV place in the winter, it seems kind of pointless.
Class A and many fivers are designed for long-term living. Class Cs are generally not.
We get mail but Facebook and email constitutes most of our communication with family and friends.
Right now I can’t think of anything that I miss. We see our family more than we did when we lived in a “stick and brick” home. They are scattered from NH to WV to NM to TX to CO. We just start up out home and go visit when the inclination strikes and weather allows.
When we visit family or friends we can stay for days or months and not be in their space and have our own space.
It sure is easy to think of what I don’t miss though. Like being stuck in one place, doing yard work,and having to be places at a certain time.
I am not sure that I have a favorite destination, but we have now settled on AZ for our winter area. That could change though.
Oops, I forgot to respond to your monthly expenses question.
We are debt free and spend an average of about $3000 per month.
We pretty much go where we want, do what we want, and buy what we want. Of course the motor home has everything we need and there isn’t room to put a lot of new stuff.
When we upgrade things like TV, flooring, furniture upholstery, new automatic satellite dish and so forth we can spend some bucks that way though.
There are a couple of publications that list the RV parks and provide info about them such as a rating, location, phone number and cost. Woodall is one and Trailer Life puts out another.
We also belong to Passport America - a club that gets us half price stays when we use a participating RV park. We use their listing when possible.
Most RVs are self contained and can go several days without hook ups. Many boondockers (people that like to stay in primitive areas) are set up with solar panels on the roof to charge their batteries and inverters that change the battery voltage to 120 volts ac. I have also seen some portable wind generators used.
They have to go to a dump station to get rid of waste and find a place to get fresh water though.
A couple that we are close friends with do enjoy boondocking and they are set up for it. He has three solar panels and I often see it putting 24 amps into his batteries (he has four deep cycle ones).
He uses a collapsible water container that fits in the back of his jeep and a small 12 vdc pump to pump the water into his motor home tank. If he is careful I think he can go about two weeks without having to dump his waste tanks.
We prefer full hook ups though and rarely do any boondocking.
I don’t at this time. All of my guns are in storage. I am considering getting a shotgun out and taking it along.
So far I have never felt threatened though and just haven’t done it.
A lot of full timers do carry some kind of firearm.